Cardiology expansion and refurbishment
The first stage of the refurbishment and expansion of the cardiac catheter (cath) laboratories and angiography recovery ward has now been completed.
The Trust now has two state of the art cath labs, ensuring a more reliable service, with less down time of equipment and more capacity, allowing us to complete up to 12 outpatient cases a day.
A brand new recovery ward has also been built, with eight trolleys/chairs and four side rooms which, if necessary, can be used for patients who require isolation.
We expect to be able to reduce our elective waiting list over the next few months and look forward to exploring and developing further opportunities with our GP colleagues.
The next stage of the project will see us open a cardiology procedure room in mid-December, enabling us to have a dedicated room to undertake non-invasive procedures such as TOEs and cardio-versions and to start to deliver stress-echos. This means our patients will be able to have their procedure completed locally, reducing their travel and diagnosis times.
If you would like to arrange an informal visit to the department, or have any questions about the service, please contact Dr Nandu Gandhi, lead consultant cardiologist via email Nandkumar.Gandhi@sash.nhs.uk
Hospital leading the way with new mouth care initiative
patient Mrs Stevens with oral health trainer Kiley Jackson from the Mouth Care Matters team
East Surrey Hospital is the first hospital in the country to introduce a dedicated mouth care matters team on its wards. The mouth care matters programme aims to improve the mouth care of adult hospitalised patients.
The four strong mouth care team are training nursing and support staff and raising awareness of the importance of oral health and the impact it can have on a patient’s overall health. Improving mouth care improves patient dignity, the ability to eat and drink and helps to reduce the risk of infections such as oral thrush and pneumonia.
The programme, which has been developed by staff at East Surrey Hospital, is being funded by Health Education England, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, and will be introduced across the south east of England in the next year.
Clinical haematology update
Changes to method for provision of clinical advice
Any request for clinical advice should be sent to the haematology team as a letter rather than by telephone. They will reply in writing and their advice will be available on the Trust’s Dictate IT system so it can be accessed by other clinicians.
The exception to this is that the haematology team will continue to provide advice over the phone in clinically urgent cases.
New haematology based clinical trial
The recently opened FLAIR trial is looking at 1st line treatment for CLL and compares standard treatment FCR (Fludarabine, Cyclophosphamide, Rituximab) with a new oral agent Ibrutinib. For further details please contact Dr Pawel Kaczmarek, lead consultant haematologist, at pawel.kaczmarek@sash.nhs.uk
Virginia Mason Institute
Senior clinicians and leaders from SASH visited the Virginia Mason Institute (VMI) in Seattle this month as part of the five year Department of Health and Trust Development Authority development programme.
Following a very competitive selection process SASH was one of only five trusts selected for the initiative.
The VMI is recognised as running one of the safest hospitals in the world and the team saw first-hand what the VMI production system looked like in action.
The Trust puts patients at the forefront of everything it does and aims to use the VMI methods of reducing waste and variation to continue to improve safety and quality. Three initial work streams have now been identified: inpatient flow, Cdiff and outpatient referral to discharge. The project team will work with leaders and clinicians over the coming weeks to start taking these work streams forward.
New ear, nose and throat consultants
The ENT Department is pleased to announce the appointment of two consultant ENT surgeons who are replacing the recently retired Mr John Brookes and Mr Kemal Bevan.
Mr Karan Kapoor specialises in head and neck cancer, thyroid surgery and airway reconstruction. He has specialist interests in voice and swallowing issues in addition to general ENT. Having completed two fellowships he was recently appointed as the lead head and neck cancer surgeon for SASH, operating at East Surrey and Queen Victoria Hospital.
Miss Natasha Choudhury performs all aspects of general ENT, with a special interest in thyroid and parathyroid surgery. She has been appointed as the lead clinician for thyroid surgery, specialising in all aspects of benign and malignant thyroid disease.
Chief nurse Fiona Allsop receives her flu jab
Protecting staff from flu
We have started our annual staff flu vaccination programme and the occupational health team are holding daily clinics as we aim to protect as many staff as possible.
By keeping our staff well and flu-free, we not only make sure we have enough staff on our wards, it stops the risk of our patients catching it from staff, and it prevents staff taking it home and spreading the infection more widely in the community via friends and family.
To help us keep accurate records if you administer the vaccine to a patient who you happen to know is a member of our staff, please can you remind them that they should let our occupational health team know.
For more information please contact occupational.health@sash.nhs.uk
Annual Report
The Trust’s annual report has now been published and can be found on our website. The report reviews our performance for the financial year 2014/2015, the progress we are making and our plans for the future.
You can also read about our growing health campus on the East Surrey Hospital site, our financial position for the year and information on our structure, governance and management. The report also shares with you details about our clinical performance and staff and patient engagement.
Performance (month 5, August 2015)
- ED performance against the four hour standard in August was 96.1%.
- Cancer access: All cancer standards were achieved except the 62 day referral to treatment standards.
- Patient safety indicators continued to show expected levels of performance.
- The latest HSMR data shows overall Trust mortality is lower than expected for all our patient groups.
- The Trust had no MRSA bloodstream infections and three Trust acquired C-diff in August
- Maternity indicators continue to show expected performance.
